Genki I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese I

One of the questions we get asked at J-List a lot is, "I want to start learning Japanese, what book do you recommend?" Most textbooks are entirely dry, uninteresting, and cannot follow a student's pace, leaving students frustrated. However, a new series by The Japan Times has recently taken Japanese language for foreigners by storm, and comes highly recommended by anyone who has taken it -- Genki, An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese. The entire course has 23 lessons, guiding the student from the beginning until the student has mastered elementary grammar and can read not only hiragana and katakana but over 300 of the most commonly used kanji as well. Each lesson has: 1) a dialogue introducing vocabulary and grammar in a situation the student may find familiar; 2) a list of the vocabulary with hiragana, katakana, kanji and English meaning; 3) grammar with full explanations in English; 4) interesting usage notes; 5) several pages of practice questions designed to be fun and interesting incorporating dialogue skills, writing skills, and thinking skills; 6) additional vocabulary. Each lesson also has a complementary lesson in hiragana/katakana/kanji, with reading and writing exercises. The separate workbook has more writing exercises and kanji writing practice. This is simply the recommended textbook for anyone beginning Japanese up to 3rd level in the JLPT.